Word.ws English Dictionary

complains

/kəmˈpleɪnz/

complains is the third-person singular simple present indicative of complain.

Meaning of complain

Verb

complain (third-person singular simple present complains, present participle complaining, simple past and past participle complained)

  1. (intransitive) To express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment.
    • Joe was always complaining about the noise made by his neighbours.
  2. (intransitive) To state the presence of something negative; to indicate that one is suffering from something; to report (e.g.) a symptom.
    • The patient complained of headache, nausea, and joint pain.
  3. (intransitive) To make a formal accusation or bring a formal charge.
    • They've complained about me to the police again.
  4. To creak or squeak, as a timber or wheel.
    • the complaining bed-springs

Words that rhyme with complains

22 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about complains

What is complains the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Complains is the third-person singular simple present indicative of complain.
How do you pronounce complains?
Complains is pronounced /kəmˈpleɪnz/.

Words near complains in the dictionary

  1. complainin'
  2. complaining
  3. complainingly
  4. complainingness
  5. complainings
  6. complains
  7. complaint
  8. complaintful
  9. complaintive
  10. complaintiveness
  11. complaintless

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: complains (page history and authors); complain (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-complains.ogg.

Cite this entry: “complains.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/complains. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.